obsessed

adjective

ob·​sessed əb-ˈsest 

äb-

: preoccupied with or haunted by some idea, interest, etc. : being in a state of obsession

This was because on vacations my father was a man obsessed.

—Bill Bryson

Gatsby the obsessed lover, erecting an empire and stringing it with lights to impress a girl …

—Claudia Roth Pierpont

She was at once obsessed with being a good person and brutal to the people who worked for her.

—Rachel Abramowitz

But it seems we're becoming so obsessed with healthy eating, we are embarking on up to three different diets a year.

—Unity Blott

—sometimes used in combination

a sports-obsessed teenager

obsessedly

əb-ˈse-səd-lē 

-ˈsest-lē

äb-

adverb

"He wants her to be free of him and she doesn't know that she is obsessedly in love with him."

—Anthony Hopkins

Synonyms

• happy
• hung up
• queer

Examples of obsessed in a Sentence

the youngster was so obsessed with video games that he had little interest in playing outside

Recent Examples on the Web

Théodore Pellerin stars as a retail worker who becomes obsessed with an up-and-coming musician (Archie Madekwe). —Samantha Bergeson, IndieWire, 5 Mar. 2025

Mirzakhani became obsessed with these circumnavigating curves. —Joseph Howlett, Quanta Magazine, 3 Mar. 2025

Much later, my brother became obsessed with meteorology and dreamed of becoming a weatherman. —Bob Hicok, The New Yorker, 3 Mar. 2025

Why did the world suddenly become obsessed with the northern lights? —Jamie Carter, Space.com, 28 Feb. 2025

Word History

Etymology

from past participle of obsess

First Known Use

1888, in the meaning defined above

Phrases Containing obsessed

• self-obsessed

Rhymes for obsessed

• acquiesced
• coalesced
• dispossessed
• manifest
• overdressed
• overstressed
• prepossessed
• reassessed
• reinvest
• repossessed
• unaddressed
• uncompressed